Under the Sun

There are some indications that Qohelet and his audience may be considering new ways to reinterpret the old traditions. For instance the frequent use of the term under the sun in this book seems to indicate that either the audience or the speaker had begun to speculate about life after death as a way of resolving the disagreement between traditional retributive expectations and observed reality.
The phrase under the sun occurs twenty-nine times in the manuscripts, at least once in every chapter except chapter 7 which uses a similar sounding ‘those who see the sun’ in verse 11. Under the sky, under heaven occurs three times in 1:13; 2:3; and 3:1 and on earth has a similar meaning in 5:2; 8:14, 16, 11:2.
The discussion of what is worthwhile for humans to do during their brief lives under the sun begins with this provocative query: What do we gain (literally, what remains or what is left over) from all our hard work on earth? If hebel means breath like, then the question of gain acquires the sense of what is permanently gained?
What do humans gain from all their toil – Qohelet does not project limits to what G-d might do. And he does not include G-d’s activities in the category of what is done under the sun.
The business of this world is labour; the word signifies both care and toil. It is work that wearies men. There is a constant fatigue in worldly business. There is a world above the sun, a world which needs not the sun, for the glory of G-d is its light, where there is work without labour and with great profit, the work of angels; but he speaks of the work under the sun, the pains of which are great and the gains little. It is under the sun, under the influence of the sun, by its light and in its heat; as we have the benefit of the light of the day, so we have sometimes the burden and heat of the day (Matt. 20:12), and therefore in the sweat of our face we eat bread. In the dark and cold grave the weary are at rest.
What Profit - As to our present condition in the world, it is true that by labour we get that which we call profit; we eat the labour of our hands; but as the wealth of the world is commonly called substance, and yet it is that which is not (Prov. 22:5), so it is called profit, but the question is whether it be really so or no. In short, the wealth and pleasure of this world, if we had ever so much of them, are not sufficient to make us happy, nor will they be a portion for us.
As to the body, and the life that now is, What profit has a man of all his labour? A man's life consists not in abundance, Luke 12:15. As goods are increased care about them is increased, and those are increased that eat of them, and a little thing will embitter all the comfort of them; and then what profit has a man of all his labour?
As to the soul, and the life that is to come, we may much more truly say, What profit has a man of all his labour? All he gets by it will not supply the wants of the soul, nor satisfy its desires, will not atone for the sin of the soul, nor cure its diseases, nor countervail the loss of it; what profit will they be of to the soul in death, in judgment, or in the everlasting state?
The fruit of our labour in heavenly things is meat that endures to eternal life, but the fruit of our labour for the world is only meat that perishes.
His labour - Heb. his toilsome labour, both of body and mind in the pursuit of riches, or pleasures, or other earthly things. The business of this world is labour; the word signifies both care and toil. It is work that wearies men. There is a constant fatigue in worldly business. There is a world above the sun, a world which needs not the sun, for the glory of G-d is its light, where there is work without labour and with great profit, the work of angels; but he speaks of the work under the sun, the pains of which are great and the gains little. It is under the sun, under the influence of the sun, by its light and in its heat; as we have the benefit of the light of the day, so we have sometimes the burden and heat of the day (Matt. 20:12), and therefore in the sweat of our face we eat bread. In the dark and cold grave the weary are at rest.
All things a man enjoys he gets by labour; for man, through sin, is doomed and born unto it, (Job 5:7); he gets his bread by the sweat of his brow, which is a part of the curse for sin; and the wealth and riches got by a diligent hand, with a divine blessing, are got by labour; and so all knowledge of natural and civil things is acquired through much labour and weariness of the flesh; and these are things a man labors for "under the sun", which measures out the time of his labour: when the sun riseth, man goeth forth to his labour; and, by the light and comfortable warmth of it, he performs his work with more exactness and cheerfulness; in some climates, and in some seasons, its heat, especially at noon, makes labour burdensome, which is called, bearing "the heat and burden of the day", (Matt. 20:12); and, when it sets, it closes the time of service and labour, and therefore the servant earnestly desires the evening shadow, (Job 7:2) . But now, of what profit and advantage is all this labour man takes under the sun, towards his happiness in the world above the sun? That glory and felicity, which lies in super celestial places in Y’Shua HaMashiach? None at all.
Works of righteousness done by men, and trusted in, and by which they labour to establish a justifying righteousness, are of no profit and advantage to them in the business of justification and salvation; indeed, when these are done from right principles, and with right views, the labour in them shall not be in vain; G-d will not forget it; it shall have a reward of grace, though not of debt.
So what have we learned here? What have we been spending so much time on, to what purpose?
What are our priorities? Are we more concern with the world under the sun than over the sun?